Ho chang, son of the Prince of Wei chun, got a secret order from the Emperor to put an end to Polo and his partisans, and soon he found the occasion to do so.
Polo receiving news of the capture of Shang tu, a victory over Mongol adherents of the heir, hurried on to inform the Emperor, but just as he was entering the palace he was stopped by Ho chang’s men who opened his skull with a sabre stroke. When news of this death reached Tukien’s army the officers deserted their general. Tukien was arrested, and put to death straightway. The Emperor sent Polo’s head to the heir at Ki ning and an order for him to appear at the palace. The prince returned now with Kuku Timur, who became commander-in-chief and first minister. The heir strove to force Kuku Timur to persuade the Emperor to resign in his favor, and not finding the minister compliant grew enraged at him. The Emperor was unwilling to abdicate, but he gave his son power almost equal to that which he himself had, making him lieutenant in the Empire. Kuku Timur tried to prevent this, but failed, and was stripped of his dignities. Thereupon, he retired to Shang si, where he lived in a stronghold.
While the Mongol court was thus torn asunder by dissension Chu yuan chang was extending his Empire continually. He lived at Nan king, working always to establish a government on justice and order, as recommended by ancient philosophers of China. Meanwhile [[409]]his generals Su ta and Chang yu chun attacked Chang si ching, who was master yet of a part of Che kiang and Kiang nan. In 1366 these two distinguished chiefs won a great victory over Chang si ching, took Hiu chiu, one of the wealthiest cities in Che kiang, and also Hang chau, the capital of that province. The next year they captured Chang si ching in Ping liang, and took him to Nan king directly. Chu yuan gave the man liberty in return for his word that he would not go from the city in any case. Chang gave his word to remain in it, and then hanged himself.
Ming yu chin, who had declared himself Emperor of the Hia dynasty, died in 1366. Min ching, his son, who was ten years of age, succeeded, with his mother as regent. This same year Han lin ulh, who claimed to be of the Sung dynasty, vanished, and with him went his adherents.
Fang kwe chin submitted at last. This faith-breaking pirate had refused not only to appear before Chu yuan chang, and send tribute, but he had acted against him in the North in alliance with Kuku Timur, and in the South with Chin yiu ting, who held a part of the Fu kien province. Chu then sent his general, Tang ho, to take the cities Wen chau, Tai chu and King yuen. At the approach of his forces the pirate retired to an island in the sea. When all those cities soon after opened their gates to Tang ho the pirate sent his son with submission, and put himself also at command of the general, who sent him off to Nan king under escort.
Chu yuan chang undertook now the liberation of all China. Su ta, his great general, and Chang yu chun marched northward with an army which numbered one fourth of a million. While Hu ting shui, a third general, reduced Fu kien and Kuang tung, Yang king took Kwang si and held it. These southern provinces, tired of oppression from strangers, made no resistance whatever. First of all Su ta and his colleague took the country between the Hoai and Hoang Ho, then they crossed the latter river and entered Shan tung, proclaiming that barbarians, like the Mongols, were unfitted to rule a polished people from whom they themselves should receive law and order; that the Mongols had conquered the Empire, not by their merit, but through Heaven’s aid given purposely to punish the Chinese. Heaven, roused now by the crimes of the Mongols, had taken power from them to give it to a warrior filled with virtue and greatness, a warrior loved and respected by all men who knew him. [[410]]
The generals met no resistance in any place. When all Shan tung had submitted they passed to Honan, where they had success of the same kind—the gates of every city were opened to their standards.
Togan Timur, who was terrified at the swiftness of these conquests, sent courier after courier for Kuku Timur, but that general did nothing to rescue the capital; he held aloof and marched away toward Tai yuen.
Master of China, Chu yuan chang proclaimed himself Emperor at Nan king on the first day of the Chinese year, February, 1368. He gave the name Ming to his dynasty, which means light, and to the years of his reign Hung wu (lucky war), a term applied also to this emperor himself, who after his death received the title Tai tsu, founder or great ancestor, which in China is usually given to the founder of a dynasty.
Chu yuan chang, the new Emperor, left Nan king in August, 1368, crossed the Hoang Ho at Ping lien, and marched on the capital; all cities submitted to him willingly. At the same time his two generals entered Pe che li from Shan tung. At this juncture Che li nien, one of Togan Timur’s ministers, took from the temple of ancestors all tablets of the Mongol Emperors and fled to the north, the heir fleeing with him. Togan Timur decided to follow immediately, and naming Timur Buga his lieutenant, he appointed King tong as defender of the capital. Then, assembling the princes, princesses and high officials, he declared his resolve to retire to Mongolia. He set out that same night for Shang tu with his family. The new Emperor of China was soon at the gates of Ta tu, which he entered after a very slight struggle. Mongol dominion in China was ended.